Rod bending device



Aprml 4l, B950 w. E. FAGGE 2,502,713

ROD BENDING DEVICE Filed Dec. 19, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet l mmlnllllmlln mum-glunmuum "Alg:

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ROD BENDING DEVCE Filed Deo. 19, 1945 '2 Sheets-Sheet 2 E IIS-EIHIIIIIIIIIIIIU NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII @Cm l I uveutor Wim@ 0 Waffe PatentedApr. 4, 1950 non BENDING DEVICE Walter E. Fagge, Paoli, Pa. ApplicationDecember 19, 1945, serial No. 635,869.

1 Claim.

This invention relates to a device for bending rods to form U-bolts.

U-bolts are often usedas hangers for pipes and conduits, and it isnecessary that the bight or intermediate portion of each U-bolt be benton a proper radius of curvature to snugly embrace the particular pipe orconduit with which the U-bolt is to be used.

The primary object of this invention is to provide a device which willbe simple in construction, easy to operate, and efficient in the bendingof rods to form U-bolts with bight portions of any desired radius ofcurvature, whereby to accurately conform to the cross-sectionalcurvature of the pipes or conduits with which the U- bolts are to beused.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel rod bendingdevice of the above kind including an abutment for an end of the rod tobe bent, a former about which the rod is to be bent, and a lever pivotedto swing about the axis of the former and provided with a rod contactingmember which causes the rod to be bent around the former when the leveris swung frompne position to another, the rod abutment and the rodcontacting member being adjustable toward or from the former, and theformer being adjustable in diameter so that the device may be employedto form U-bolts of different sizes from rods of differentcross-sectional diameters.

Still another object of the invention is to provide, in a rod bendingdevice of the above kind, a novel form of sectional former, a desiredsection or sections of which may be readily removed or applied todefinitely vary the eiiective diameter of the former in accordance withthe size of U-bolt to be formed.

Other objects and features of the invention will become apparent fromthe following description when considered in connection with theaccompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a top plan View of a rod bending y Figure 6 is a perspectiveView of the rod abut-.

ment carried by the base.

Figure 7 is a plan View of a modified form of former employed whenforming U-bolts of largerA sizes.

Referring in detail to the drawings, 5 indicates a base which may besecurely held in a vise or"y suitably rigidly secured upon a support.The base 5 is preferably of inverted channel form as shown'` andprovided With a central longitudinal elonf gated slot 6. Disposed uponthe base 5 is a rod abutment 1 preferably in the form of a block]vhaving a flat face 8 at one end and provided ,near`I the other end witha vertical opening 9. A bolt II) extends through the slot 6 of the base5 and the opening 9 ofthe abutment 1, and has a nut I I threaded on itsupper end.- Thus, by loosening the nut II, the abutment 'I may beadjusted.y

longitudinally of the base 5 within the limits of the slot 6, and theabutment may be secured in adjusted position by tightening the nut II.The

abutment 1 may also be turned about the axis vof' the bolt I0 so as toposition the flat face 8 at the desired tangent for properly contactinga side of the adjacent end of the rod I2 to be bent.

A hand lever I3 is pivoted at one end upon an end of the base 5 by meansof a nutted pivot bolt I4 located in alignment with vthe slot 6 of thebase. The bolt I4 extends vertically through the base 5 and lever I3 sothat the latter is adapted to swing horizontally about a verticali axis,and a sectional former I5 is mounted on the bolt I4 upon the pivoted endof the lever I3 so as to be concentric with the pivot of the latter. Theformer I5 is composed of sections consisting of a plurality of snuglybut separably associated short lengths of pipe or conduit I6 nested onewithin another. Thus, by varying the number of sections I6 used, thediameter of the former may be changed in accordance with the size ofU-bolt to be formed. It will be noted that a U-bolt for use inconnection with a pipe or conduit of given diameter will be bent about aformer section constituting a length of pipe or conduit similar to thepipe or conduit in connection with which the U-bolt is to be used. Inthis way, the rod will be bent on a proper radius of curvature toaccurately embrace the particular pipe or conduit with which the U-boltis to be used. It has been found that up to a predetermined size, thesections of pipe or conduit will snugly nest so that use of thesectional former is made practical. However, for bending rods to formU-bolts of greater than a predetermined size, it will be necessary touse a special former such as illustrated in Figure 7. This modified formof former shown in Figure 7 simply consists of a short length of pipe orconduit I 6a of the desired larger size, and crossed plates II tted andwelded within the pipe length ISa and provided at their point ofintersection and axially of the pipe length Ilia with registeredopenings I8 to receive the stem of bolt I4 when in use.

A rod contacting member I8 is adjustable longitudinally of and mountedon the hand lever I3, and this member includes a sleeve i9 slidably ttedon the lever I3 and a rod engaging finger 20 rigid with and projectingdiagonally forwardly and inwardly from one side of the sleeve I9. Itwill be noted that, in the bending operation, the rod I2 to be bent isdisposed to extend across the base 5 and the lever I3 so that the formerI5 is disposed at one side of the rodwhle the abutment l and contactfinger 20 are disposed at the opposite side of the rod, The contactmember I8 and abutment 'I are then adjusted to contact the' rod I2 withthe latter in contactwith the former I5 and with the proper portion ofthe rod I2 projecting past the former in a direction away from theabutment T. I3 is swung from the position of Figure 1 toward theposition of Figure 2, the contact member I8 is canted relative to leverI3 so as to cause the sleeve I9 to bind against the edges of the leverand thereby maintain said contact member I8 in its proper adjustedposition. As the lever I3 is swung in this direction, the nger 20presses against the rod and causes its intermediate portion to be bentaround the former until the rod assumes the U-shape shown in Figure 2.By threading the ends of the rod I2 as at 2YI before it is bent, theU-bolt will be completed at the end of the bending operation. By removalof the bolts I 0 and I4, the device Amay be taken apart for compactstorage when not in use.

From the foregoing description, it is believed that the construction,operation and advantages ofthe present invention will be readilyunderstood and appreciated by those skilled in the art. Minor changesmay be made in details of construction, such as fall within the scope ofthe invention as claimed.

What I claim is:

A rod bending device comprising an inverted channel-shaped baseembodying a nat horizontal plate member provided with a centralelongated slot, a hand lever having one end disposed on the As soon asthe lever upper face of said plate member near one end of said slot, avertical pivot bolt extending through the plate member and said end ofthe hand lever so as to mount the latter for swinging movement parallelwith the plane of said plate member, said pivot bolt projecting upwardlyabove the hand lever, a tubular cylindrical former seated on the pivotedend of said hand lever and removably mounted on the upwardly projectingportion of the pivot bolt concentric with the pivotal axis of saidlever, said former being unsecured against upward removal from the pivotbolt, a horizontally elongated rod abutment disposed on the upper faceof said plate member and having a side contact face, a nutted clampingbolt passing through the slot of said plate member and one end of saidrod abutment to secure the latter at different distances from the formerand in different positions of angular adjustment about a vertical axisdefined by said clamping bolt to accommodate rods of diierent lengthsand crosssectional sizes, a cantable sleeve loosely disposed andslidable on said hand lever, and a rod contacting bending finger rigidlycarried by said sleeve and adjustable with the latter longitudinally ofsaid hand lever.

WALTER E. FAGGE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Great Britain May 23,1890 France Feb, 21, 1921 Number Number OTHER REFERENCES Die-LessDuplicating, Catalog No. 44-6, p. 34, 1944; ONeil-Irwin Mfg. Co.,Minneapolis, Minn.

France Oct. 15, 1929"

